Fantasy Football Today - NFL DFS Week 18 Preview: Main Slate Lineups, Picks, Stacks and Ownership

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

4:00 - Saints +14 at Buccaneers (43.5) 7:30 - Bills (-2.5) at Patriots (37.5) 8:45 - Panthers (+8) at Falcons (48) 11:40 - Giants (+3) at Eagles (37.5) 14:20 - Commanders (-6) at Cowboys (44) 17:30 - BREAK 18:00 - Bears +10 at Packers (41) 20:20 - Jaguars (+5) at Colts (44) 22:00 - Texans (+1.5) at Titans (37) 26:00 - Seahawks (-6.5) at Rams (38.5) 29:15 - 49ers (+4) at Cardinals (42.5) 32:20 - Chiefs (+10.5) at Broncos (40) 37:00 - Chargers (-4.5) at Raiders (41.5) 38:50 - Dolphins (-1) at Jets (39) 41:00 - BREAK 41:10 - Meg’s Cheat Sheet 42:45 - Sia Cheat Sheet 43:30 - Mike’s Top 3 at Each Position Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The all-new FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino is bringing you more action than ever. Want more ways to follow your faves? Check out our new player prop tracking with real-time notifications. Or have out more ways to customize your casino page with our new favorite and recently played games tabs. And to top it all off, quick and secure withdrawals. Get more everything with FanDuel Sportsbook and Casino. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 visit connectsontario.ca What's up everyone and welcome to fantasy football today DFS coming at you on a Friday back to our Thursday schedule I'm sure next week. Mike McClure, Meg Schaub, it's probably best we're here on a Friday as opposed to a Thursday because

if there's a week where things are not normal this would be the week. Things get back to normal with the playoffs of course but I think we have to comment on this first before we get into 13 games Slayton. By the way thanks for joining. If you're watching us live, that's great Hit the like button if you're listening the podcast really appreciate your listening Go ahead and review the podcast if you can as well We've got 13 games to go through got our cheat sheets Mike's top three in each position and our contest is already in the chat And in the podcast description, so five bucks to enter the FFT DFS contest, but Mike I do want to start with this quirky week. How are you approaching a week like this?

For me, it's one that I play a lot lighter. So I, you know, some weeks I'll play up to 20 max lineups. I'll play five here and honestly, about 25% of my normal volume. So quite a bit lower here. And if you're someone who's, you know, played a lot of DFS in general, not just NFL, this is the closest thing to NBA preseason DFS or I guess NFL preseason in some sense.

In preseason NFL, you know some of the position battles though. We're not even talking about position battles at this point. So it is stuff where you're going to have know, incentives for players, things like that. And then with that, in this day and age, it's gonna come extremely concentrated ownership. So it's a very difficult situation to navigate. Obviously we're gonna do our best to do it. But my message would be scale back a little bit

unless you've got some very, very valuable info and really hard takes on certain players. So, Meg, I like how he closed that statement because we know that with the incentive talk and certain teams with things on the line, like things are going to be concentrated in certain directions. We're going to touch on all of those players, of course. But I do think there's games that, quote, like, don't matter, where you take a hard stance on, like, hey, just people aren't paying attention to this game. We know these quarterbacks are going to play. We know these receivers are going to play running

backs and so on. And I just think, you know, I don't know if contrarian is the right word, but maybe it is. I think this is a decent week to follow the crowd on some things and just have a hard stance on other things. And I do agree with Mike, maybe you don't unload the normal bankroll this week versus maybe next week or what you did last week, right? Yeah, I think Mike said everything perfectly. I think you summed it up perfectly. It really does remind me of an NFL preseason slate. And so I just think you need to adjust your volume bankroll accordingly. But yes, so your point, Sia, I think if you do have a really strong stance on whether it's a narrative or a contract incentive or something, I think now contract incentives are pretty public. And people are pretty uber aware that they may not have been as much as several years ago.

But I mean, if you do feel confident in something that you want to lean into, a narrative, like I'm just making this up. But if you think this is Aaron Rodgers last game and he's going to put up a monster game, I don't necessarily think I'm going to go that way. But those are the kind of things you could lean into if you think this is Aaron Rodgers last game and he's going to put up a monster game, you know, I don't necessarily think I'm going to go that way. But those are the kind of things you could lean into if you felt comfortable. But yeah, to reiterate Mike's point, I think play what volume you're comfortable with because

it is a very different week and very similar to NFL preseason. All right. Well, I do want to get started, but I do want to shout out Alan Prezig, Jason Reyes, Jeffrey Lightsey, Moshe, a Des cousin, earnest, everybody in here, Robert Lamont, Richie Smalls. Haven't seen you in a little bit. Hello, Richie Smalls. Thank you everybody in TB 12.

Thank you for, I think that's Tom Brady watching this show. That's really cool. Thank you for saying happy new year. Thank you for joining the show. Thank you for being a part of this experience. And yes, this show is going through the playoffs, so we're not going anywhere. Let's start with a game that Meg, like you said, has some of these incentives has, has something on the line, at least for one of these teams. It's the saints. It's the Buccaneers. I mean, we've

got a really high implied total for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, right? I mean, and it's for good reason. It's close to 29. It's a, it's a 43 and a half point total, but a lot of those on the Buccaneers side, they're 14 point favorites. I would think that you would think they'll have their foot on the pedal for most of this game because they have to secure their division when their playoff spot. How you playing Buck Saints? Yeah, I'm leaning into this heavily, but I think a lot of people are too, but I'm leaning into the buck side heavily. Obviously you're going to again, you're going to have ownership with Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Bucky, Irving, even Jaylen McMillan across the board.

But, you know, the the incentives are there both from a again, securing the NFC South and actual incentives, as we know, the most public one is, or I think the most one that everybody is super aware of is Mike Evans, of course, getting that a thousand yard season. And he's very close to that, of course, getting that 1,000 yard season. And he's very close to that, I believe 85 yards somewhere around there. So there are some incentives for Baker Mayfield as well. I was reading up on that. I mean, he'd have to have a massive game

from a touchdown pass perspective, but we saw what he did last week. That's always in play, but he has incentives related to his, I believe, completion percentage and rating and stuff like that. So I just I'm leaning into Baker Mayfield Mike Evans at work last week. I want to go back to that. And of course if you want to add Bucky Irving if you want to add Jaylen McMillan I don't mind that. So just love the Bucks here overall. Meg wasn't Baker and Mike Evans your your favorite last week? It it was, well, stay tuned for Meg's cheat sheet. Cause that worked out well. I had Anthony Richardson, of course. I had to pivot from

that because I had Anthony Richardson to Josh Downs who didn't do anything. People asked me on Twitter. I did end up pivoting to the Sam Darnold stack, which was good, just not quite as good as your stack Megan in Baker Mayfield. But I did play a lot of Baker Mayfield lineups too. So, uh, Jalen McMillan, Mike Evans, pain Durham getting in the mix, Bucky Irving too, Mike, I assume you're not playing any Saints. Talk to me about, uh, talk to me about the Buc side and whether you're invested in this one. Yeah, no Saints, but definitely a Buc side going to be playing Bucky Irving again. Uh, we, we fortunately had a great week with him despite not getting in the end zone last week, laddering up

to one 50 on the, uh, rushing receiving combos. I think that's in play again here. I think the concern with Bucky would just simply be if they're up by three touchdowns at halftime, if they do nurse him a little bit because he has been dealing with a few injuries. I mean, obviously a lot of players are at this point, but being a rookie and wanting, he's critical for them in a playoff run. So something I would monitor there, but I like Evans, I like Baker. Like I think you could fall on onslaught. My best lineup last week was a full on Tampa onslaught.

And I think that that's very much in play. No interest in the same side though, but for me, primary piece would be Bucky. I can play him without anyone else and then full on Baker, Evans, Bucky, I can play him without anyone else. And then full on Baker Evans, Bucky and probably one other. Yeah, I know there's a Jeffrey Lightsey says just to be different and contrary and he wants to look at Rashad White. I just think he's sort of the odd man out here. I think it is

Bucky Irving. But if you want to take that stance, like I get it, the thing is, if this is a blowout, and I know that's not why you're saying play Rashad White, it's probably Sean Tucker that comes in like in the fourth quarter and racks up some stuff So I do think it's Bucky Irving Mike Evans and then Jalen McMillan and Payne Durham certainly in the conversation in my opinion and obviously Baker as well. All right, let's move on to we got to cover a lot of games 13 8 in the the early the early window 5 in the late window Don't forget you can play these early and late slates if you have a take and you just want to zero in on the early

Or afternoon slate, but Bill's Patriots early and late slates if you have a take and you just want to zero in on the early or afternoon slate but bills Patriots there's just not much to talk about in this game in my opinion it's a 37 and a half point total high there's no like the implied total for the bills is only 20 Mitch Trabisky is starting Mike I mean do we just move on like I don't really see any reason I'm looking at the names here that are in play there's value across the board with so many people sitting out this is not the game to target, right? Yeah. I don't think I'll be having anything in this one. Still trying to look through a lot to sort through, but I don't see much, if anything here, I'm trying to find for the

Buffalo defense. Still the first piece that I get get to and that's pretty far down the board. Fair enough. Alright, we do have a decent amount of people watching. Hit the like button like Grant Marshall says in the chat. And if you're watching us on Twitter, that's great. Keep watching us on Twitter. But if you want to get involved in the chat, come over to the Fantasy Football Today YouTube channel and get involved in the chat. Honestly, Meg, I think we can move on from this game, right? Yeah, I'm with you. Move on and pass. Okay, let's go to a game that does have some potential implications. We're going to the Carolina Panthers, the Atlanta Falcons. Sorry, I probably put this in the wrong order, but we are going to the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons. Panthers plus a 48 point total. Now talk about another implied total like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That was 29. This one's 28 Meg, and it sense Falcons really they need Tampa to lose which we kind of know is not going to happen here but Falcons are going to go full bore here. Michael Pennex 5400, Bajan Robinson who I suspect is going to be popular at 8500 and then you got the receiver corn and Drake London, Darnel Mooney and then of course Kyle Pitts, Ray McLeod McLeod. I think you could play both sides of this, Meg. I think Adam Thielen is definitely in play, maybe Jalen Coker, but to me, for me, it's Bijan Robinson and get out maybe Adam Thielen. I'm lockstep with you. Bijan Robinson I really do like as a chalky bye. And so I'm very interested because again, we saw what he did last week then and how the Falcons leaned on him and I think they'll do the same here. Yeah the

concerns always if they look up at the scoreboard and Bucks are up by four touchdowns you know do they take the pedal off the gas but I really do like Bijan here and I'm leaning heavily into that and then I get your point on Thielen and Coker they would probably I'm not gonna force any run back like with a skinny Bijan Robinson but I get I get the case on Thielen and Coker. They would probably, I'm not going to force any run back like with a skinny Bijan Robinson, but I get the case for either of those plays. Yeah, Mike, is this a situation with so much value on the board where you're just jamming in Bijan Robinson

and calling it a day on this game? Definitely, definitely. When I run and tell the computer to build 2000 lineups, he is in 92% of them. Jeez. Yeah, he is the definition of a free square this week. Very interesting. Free squares aren't usually 8,500, but this week they are, uh, would you, I mean, I don't know if you're, if your simulations pull up any Adam Thiel and he's 6,200. I don't know that I'd want to get involved in the laguette

Coker more sweepstakes or Jatavion Sanders. Uh, feeling does make a little bit of sense. What do you think about him at 6,200? Uh, I don't mind it if you want to, you know, think they're going to push and it obviously would certainly help, uh, Bijon. Uh, I'm not getting a ton right now, but this is a week where I don't think I'll really have any game stacks. I think it'll just be because of the concentration. I think it would literally just be finding the spots you like and playing them all together. Yeah, I think this is a game where you can kind of buck convention because of the situation here. You don't have to

have your typical runbacks. You don't have to have that on on any week really, But I think just building for just targeting players and not necessarily stacks or at least targeting stacks on one side, but not necessarily the other makes a lot of sense. Cousin Ernest says any interest in Dobbs Jennings combo answer to that is yes. So cousin Ernest, be patient, wait for that game. Cause Joshua Dobbs I'm a big Joshua Dobbs guy. He's exciting to me. And he will be coming up as a potential play later on in the show. Meg, I went to you on Atlanta, right? So we can go to the giants and the Eagles, another

game where I don't have a ton of interest. Shout out to drew lock for like kind of messing up the New York giants plans, but like that's not his fault. He had a really great career game for him, which I think was kind of funny given the timing Malik neighbors, 7,100 drew lock 5,100. We got time on Tracy in here. Uh, not a lot of interest on the other side. And we've got Will Shipley and Kenneth Gainwell probably sharing some running back duties. This is a game that with low implied point totals on each side, Michael, start with you. This is a game I'm out on. I mean, really neighbors I get I'm still out on it.

Yeah, neighbors is fine. projects pretty well wouldn't shock me if it busts in that particular spot. Both defenses. Some of the lineups I'm building right now actually played the Giants defense in this one. Obviously not a fun click, but it's one at 2400 makes everything work because I'll give you a little preview of like a core that I'm building around. Bichon Robinson, Bucky Irving, Mike Evans, Devontae Adams, all again, very expensive. You'd never be able to play them all in the same lineup on a normal week. But when you've got 4K players at quarterback and $2400 defenses, it works pretty easily.

So I like I like, I like the giants defense. Okay. Yeah. Giants defense, certainly inexpensive. Meg, your thoughts on this game. There's some questions with, with Dez here. And I don't think we know the answer to all of these questions yet, but will Shipley Kenny Gainwell, like I think Kenny Gainwell is getting some steam here, but it would seem to me Kenny Gainwell is pretty involved in, in like real games for them. Right. So it would seem to me like, why not like ship out? No pun intended, literally no pun intended. But we'll ship Lee. I mean, I TDP is on the Tyrion Davis prices on this team. Like, I don't know why you'd use Kenny Gainwell in

a big role in a game that doesn't matter since he's a part of this kind of regular offense. Your thoughts on the, any side of this game? There's another cheap running back that I'll probably play have more interest in, but I do get the case for Will Shipley here at his price point. So I would, I would say him, sure, you could make a case for neighbors, but there's other spend up options that I'll likely go to. So really, like Mike said, it's probably the defenses. And he makes a great point about the Giants defense likely going against looks like Tanner McKee, I believe

for Eagle. So I get that and I get the case for Shipley and other than that, I don't think you forced much else here. Yeah, and this is this is a good game to kind of note. We do need to be tuned into because I do think some of these coaches are like some will lie to us, but some will declare like who's playing and who's not. So you do have to kind of tune in today. Practice reports are going to be really important for some of these games, but also just what the coaches say is going to be really important for, especially for some of these games where there's really no implications as it pertains to the playoffs. All right. We do have an implication game here. The Washington commanders at the Dallas Cowboys, the commanders really want to lock

up that six seed because they don't want to play the Eagles in the first round. They prefer to play the Rams or the Buccaneers for obvious reasons. We got a 44 point total. Meg, I'll start with you. The implied total for Washington is 25. This is an interesting spot in my opinion, because there's so much value at every single position and there's so many good plays with teams that have a ton on the line.

Like people have brought up Bo Nicks, for example, Baker Mayfield, we'll talk about Bo Nicks later. There's a lot of quarterbacks you can play. I just think it's interesting at least that I don't think people are going to play Jayden Daniels and I'm not looking at ownership in this moment. He's 7,800. Like I think a lot of people think, well, they've kind of locked up their spot. Maybe, you know, it's, it's the pedals off, you know, the foot is off the pedal a little bit. I think he's an interesting play. Anyway, do you like anybody in this game? I definitely think you can make a case for Jayden Daniels, especially come if he's coming in at lower ownership, you have to pay a high price,

but that's likely why people won't do it as much. So if you want to get a little ownership leverage on a game that's still obviously matters again, if they go up by a very large margin, then maybe, maybe they do pull back a bit or, you know, maybe he doesn't get a full game if they really, really blow out the Cowboys. But I think if that is the case, he would likely be a big part of that. So I definitely see the case for Jayden Daniels. I know Zach Ertz has a lot of incentives. He has certainly helped them secure the playoffs in the Sunday night win.

So maybe they feed him a little bit more. He's his 4k. So I don't mind going to Zachary's whether you want to pair him with Jane Daniels or not. Other than that, I don't think I'm going to get too much in this game. But those are the two that I have some interest in. Mike, I'll say this about the Cowboys side. We don't know how much Trey Lance is going to play or you know what what that that dynamics going to be with Cooper Rush and Trey Lance, which is

why I don't want to play. I don't want to speculate on any Cowboys. I think the Cowboys will be relatively competitive at least for some time in this game. So I could see the argument for cooks or Tolbert or even Cavante Turpin or Jake Ferguson Rico Dowell. It's a no for me because of that quarterback situation on the other side. I think Earth's incentives are a little out of reach just based on what I saw with that set He's only 4k and he's a primary target for Jayden Daniels Mike any interest in this game Not a ton. I mean I could I can make the case for Jayden

I think that the Dallas Cowboys could push enough to where Jayden has to you know Put 28 points on the board and there's certainly a scenario where he has a rushing touchdown and three passing touchdowns like that That's definitely within the range here. Um, he's expensive. I prefer to play a 4k quarterback this week, but, um, yeah, if you can isolate the, uh, the receiver that it goes to, then I think it's fine. Uh, not going to be my primary play, but would be the first piece in the game would be Jayden for sure.

All right. Uh, I'm not playing Brian Robinson, by the way. Shout out to Chris Rodriguez, who looked like an absolute bowling ball in that game last week. And I had got a touchdown where you thought the guy was going to go down, stole some carries from Brian Robinson in that one. Um, you mentioned 4k quarterback. Very interesting. Well, we've got to get to other quarterbacks, including a 4K quarterback that I like as well. We're going to do it right after this message from our partners. We're back on fantasy football today.

DFS again, if you're watching us on Twitter, thank you for watching. Hit the like button there, hit the like button here. But if you want to join us on YouTube, come over to the fantasy football today, YouTube channel. All right, let's go bears Packers. Mike, I don't have a lot of interest in this one. Bears are getting 10 points. The Packers do have a 25 and a half point, you know, almost a 26 point implied total here. I, you know, I don't know exactly who they're trotting out. I mean, I do think,

you know, with that Washington situation, they do technically have stuff to play for here, but I don't, this is just not a game I'm interested in. Mike, how you looking at this one? Yeah, another game, not a lot of interest. I could play the Packers defense if you want. I think it's fine. Other than that, I'm really not getting anywhere. You know, it's not necessarily fun

for some of the analysis, but like my action is essentially narrowed down to three teams. Every player is coming from one of three teams in pretty much all my lineup. So I don't, uh, don't have a ton of interest here, uh, outside of maybe again, a defense. Fair enough. Meg, this game, I, you know, I heard some, I heard some talk about Josh Jacobs, maybe not getting his full workload. I think that was actually

talked from Josh Jacobs himself, but, uh, forgive me. I didn't actually follow up on, on those comments and hear what Matt Laflora might've had to say about that. But again, it's a nice high total, but we've got high implied totals for a lot of teams. This just is not a one, especially with, you know, I don't know what's going on with Josh Jacobs, but this receiver core, they're all relatively healthy and you don't know who it's going to. I don't want to play any bears. Although I do think I'll say this, I think it's sneaky to play. Nobody's going to play Caleb Williams. I don't want to play any bears, although I do think I'll say this. I think it's sneaky to play nobody's gonna play Caleb Williams, I don't think and stack him with one or two receivers and Caleb Williams still feels like he has a lot to

prove. There's no there's not gonna be any precipitation in this game. The weather should be okay, it's gonna be cold. But I don't know, I guess Caleb Williams would be kind of sneaky. But it's a no for me in this game. Yeah, no for me as well. And yeah, it looks like the Josh Jacobs, he's just kind of acknowledging that he's not going to get his full workload from what I can tell. And likely if they look up at the scoreboard

and Washington's up by three or four scores, why would they push it when they're going to be playing possibly next Saturday? So I get all that and don't have a lot of interest here as well. I get the case for Packers defense with the amount of sacks that Caleb is taking. So, yeah, tough year for Caleb Williams and Bears fans.

All right, let's move on then again, 13 games to cover. We don't have to deep dive into games. We're not gonna play and you're likely not gonna play either. Jaguars and the Colts, 44 point total. Jags getting five points. Dome environment, that's at least noteworthy. 24 implied total for the Colts. It's not terrible about 20 for the Jaguars. That's pretty standard.

Joe Flacco starting at 5400 Meg. I think a lot of people are interested in playing Joe Flacco and you know pairing him with Michael Pittman or maybe Josh Downs and sort of a potential bounce back spot on the other side. It's hard to get away from Brian Thomas no matter what his price is. Oh, by the way, it's 7300 Mac Jones 5200. I don't know that there's anybody else I'd want to play on that side. Or do you have any interest in some of these guys like Brian Thomas, Michael Pittman, maybe

Josh Downs, flacco, all I think are intriguing. I do agree that all are intriguing. I just don't. And by the way, I've loved playing Brian Thomas recently. That has just been a fun experiment, experience, I should say. So I just don't know that I'll get here again, to Mike's point. We're targeting other games, other game environments,

and just don't see me getting there for that reason. But if you said you wanted to play Brian Thomas, and again, you have a strong stand that he's gonna just end his rookie season with a bang, I don't mind that at all. Yeah, Mike, the sentimental play is maybe it's Flacco's last game. You pair him with one of two receivers. You just try to take a chance on Pittman and Downs,

and you run it back with Brian Thomas. That would be like the conventional normal week type of play, but this isn't a normal week. Are you getting to this stack or any players? The first piece that I could get to would be Josh Downs. I'm fine taking a shot there. The price points kind of middling. It's, you know, a horrible performance in the last game and really in three of the last four.

Um, so I, I like that spot for him a little bit. Certainly not my favorite game, but I think you could do worse in the mid range than Josh Downs. So he would be piece number one for me. Yeah. Oh, we know he can be explosive, but wow. Did Pittman out target him and outperform him last week, but you never know week to week things are different. All right. I think we can move on to the next one o'clock game. One that probably won't have a ton of interest. We're probably not going to see a ton of starters. I mean, we'll have to wait and see it's the

Texans it's the Titans 37 point total. Neither of these implied totals reach 20. So that kind of tells you all you need to know. Mason Rudolph and Will Evans probably playing on the Tennessee side. I don't know who's running the ball. I don't know if I know Pollard has incentives. I don't know if he's healthy. Doesn't look like Tajay Spears is playing. Julius Chestnut would be the backup if they're both out. But we got to wait on news there. Calvin Ridley. We got Nico Collins on the other side.

Again, I don't know how much any of these players are playing either way. I don't have any interest. Mike, I'll start with you. Any thoughts on this one? Complete stay away from me. The Texans are going to play their guys. That play the guys could be one series, it could be three.

They're definitely not playing in the second half of the game. I personally think that they're literally just running them out. They're going to give them a series, maybe two, just like a preseason game, to keep them in the flow of having to go through the process of playing a game and getting in preparing for a game. But I am expecting all of the techs and starters

to be out of the game by the end of the first quarter. So that is enough that it takes away a lot of opportunities where you want to speculate on some of the cheaper guys. And just not quite enough unless you think we get the 70 yarder to Nico that lands in the end zone early. So for me, just completely off here. Meg, you agree? I'm definitely off the Texan side for everything that Mike said. I want to keep paying attention to the Pollard news. If Tajay Spears is out and the news seems that Pollard will get a workload, the incentives are there, are attainable. So I do have some interest

because it's not like the price is too prohibitive. So I do have some interest in Pollard and paying attention to that news. Does it sound like closer to game time that he will get a workload and a chance to meet these incentives? If so, he'll be in my pool. So, Meg, if memory serves, you are the Chigokanquo whisperer. Any thoughts on him at 3800? It's still under 4K, which is which is kind of nice considering the volume he gets now. If we're rotating quarterbacks, that could actually hurt him, in my opinion. But still, 3800. I mean, he could he could see seven targets and catch five of them quite

easily. Yeah. Love chicken conco the light here in the season has paid off and love the cheap tight end. So I definitely could see chicken conco in my player pool for that reason. All right, Jason Murray, you have a non DFS question, but I feel compelled to answer it because it's just, it's an easy one in my opinion, Jalen McMillan Jameson Williams or Malik neighbors pick two. It would definitely be Jameson Williams

in that absolute shootout Sunday night and Malik neighbors. So I like Jalen McMillan's having a nice season, but the volume that those other two are gonna get and what they can do after the catch, far more impressive than what we'll see from Jalen McMillan in my opinion. But then again, I mean, do you all agree like Jalen McMillan but Baker's gonna throw it around.

I get that, but I still would play Jameson and Malik neighbors. What about you two? Meg start? Um, I initially thought lean to the two guys that are really playing for something and I was gonna but but I get your case. I mean, neighbors has been getting an insane workload. So yeah, I know that was a little bit of a hedge but definitely Jameson Williams. I will say that. Mike?

Yeah. Only I'll keep neighbors in there just because the volume and it's, you know, he's obviously super talented. I think that at this point they want to, and he individually wants to just rack up as many stats as you possibly can. Um, so I think that that's good for his future, uh, you know, career earnings, things like that to just be, it'd be as good as possible early. So I'll lean neighbors. They're definitely James and William. So, yeah, for sure. All right. Let's go to the first of five, four 25 games. These are all at four 25 as opposed to four or five for whatever that's worth. If you want to consider late swap and things

like that, Seattle at Los Angeles, uh, pretty pedestrian total here. We're looking at 38 and a half. Uh, I mean, uh, we see We're looking at 38 and a half. I mean, Seahawks favored by six and a half. Rams not playing anybody. Meg, I'll start with you. I think Blake Quorum is interesting, although I could see him because he is somewhat involved in the regular game plan.

I could see him maybe seeding carries to like somebody like Ronnie Rivers or another backup running back. So I don't know that I'm gonna get to a 5,600 Blake quorum. Jordan Whittington is coming up in a lot of conversations. I happen to think Tyler Johnson with Whittington kind of questionable is an interesting play here. I don't know. I don't have a lot of interest in this game. JSN on the other side, Gina Smith has some incentives on DK Metcalf. They're all reasonably priced.

How you playing this one? Yeah, I did see the Seattle incentives. Don't know if I'll get there. I do have some interest in Blake quum. There was some good coach speak from McVeigh just wanting to see Corum and a longer look at him. And, you know, so I do have some interest in Corum. And I think from what I'm seeing in ownership, I think the public likely will as well. But no, I do have some interest in corn. Okay, Mike, any interest in anybody in this game? I'm getting a little too too at well. Just kind of thrown in there out of all the receivers there. I think he's been in the system for quite a

while. Not someone that you know, when they're healthy is really in the big mix of things. So I think that he could be someone that's out there a lot and active here. Yeah. And andino Smith, I know Greg is, is mentioning Gino's incentives. I think I'm trying to remember at least a bulk of it was he needed 200 and something, something in the 250, 260 range passing yards. I would imagine he goes after that. He's only 5,500. Are we potentially overlooking like a Gino JSN stack, Mike? Maybe a little. I would probably just play the JSN leg of it and still take

the cheaper quarterbacks elsewhere just to save $2,000. But yeah, I think there's definitely the scenario where Gino gets it all. Now I'd say if Gino gets it all and hits those incentives, I would still think that JSN is likely the guy that carries them there. All right, Meg, your thoughts on that. Yeah, I would still think that JSN is likely the guy that carries them there. All right, Meg, your thoughts on that? Yeah, I just was double checking. It looks like he needs 185 for another 2 million. So that's kind of, you know, nothing, you know, that would make me

point to Gino. I didn't see any touchdown incentives. So for that reason, I don't know that I'd push it. That's interesting, the logic there, because we know he's going to push for the 185, right? So if he's going to be pushing for that, I don't know that he's going to stop pushing once he hits. I imagine he's airing it out all game, but we don't know that, right? So it is a speculative play.

But I think I appreciate Gregory's pointing that out, because I do think I like other quarterbacks, but I get the Gino Smith argument and I get what Mike said about just playing the JSN side of it and just hoping that JSN is getting the bulk of that one 85 plus that we're likely to see from Gino Smith. Really interesting game. I think we have to keep our ear to the ground on the Ram side specifically, especially when it comes to those wide receivers like two, two at well, Jordan Whittington, Tyler Johnson.

All right, let's go to the Niners and the Cardinals. Mike, you said you like a 4K running back. I haven't looked at your top three at each position. So I will look at it in a second, but is Josh Dobbs in your top three? Is that the 4K quarterback you were talking about? Josh Dobbs is the guy. I like Dobbs here at 4K.

I think he's a good backup. I think the situation is great in a dome at Arizona. Yeah, he's going to be the quarterback I play the most by a wide margin. This is interesting too, because the implied total, I mean, this is a game that has only as a 42 and a half point total Cardinals favorite by four implied total for the Niners is only, you know, it's not even 20. It's just under 20 here. So I think that's interesting.

But Mike, I like Joshua Dobbs too. And I like, I don't think you have to pair Joshua Dobbs with anybody necessarily. But I mean, I was big on Ricky Pearsall last week. I had his over. I told everybody to ladder him and he had 147 yards. So it wouldn't shock me if they at least try. I know it's Joshua Dobbs. It's a different quarterback.

Try to showcase him. He's only 4,100. I like Dobbs to Pearsall. And as far as a run back, I think Michael Carter, even though we're talking about a running back, run back, I think Michael Carter makes a lot of sense, probably out on everybody else, including Trey McBride, but I could see myself getting to Trey McBride to how you playing this game. Definitely Michael Carter as the chief running back. Um, I have, I had to do have an interest

there. He should get a bulk of the workload. Don't have an interest in Trey McBride, still seeing ownership there and, and I'm just not going to play an expensive tight end with ownership. So so for me it would be, it would be the Carter on the, on the Cardinal side. And then I get, I get the capes for Dobbs and, and I like the Pierceall call too. So if you want to do Dobbs, Pierceall as, as the stack there, I like that side a lot. Okay. Quick, quick thing, Mike, I want to have, I have a follow-up for you on Joshua Dobbs, but Joe Everett says, and I think somebody else might've said this too. If Gino gets a win, he also gets another 2 million. So he has the, he has the yardage incentive.

He has the win incentive, which would be reason for him to keep the pedal down and just air it out. Like, let me, let's just crush this team. So that is interesting. I think I have to have him in consideration now where he wasn't in consideration before. So thank you again, everybody with this week, we're not going to have our, uh, you all are helping us to this week a little bit because uh, some of these are going to slip through the cracks. There's so much stuff going on here. Mike, if you play Joshua Dobbs, you might've already said this. Are you pairing him with anybody? Uh, I will play him without a handcuff of any kind at times,

but I could definitely still play Ricky Pierce all or Jennings in there. And I'll definitely have Carter on the other side in the Dobbs lineups. We'll have to see what goes on with Kittle and specifically Debo because I thought I heard some rumblings about Debo maybe taking a backseat in this one. So keep that in mind. Anything else Meg to talk about in this game? Like this is a stack I like you mentioned Michael Carter.

Are you in or out on a 6,500 Trey McBride? Definitely out on Trey McBride. Again, I'm seeing some ownership there for me. I'm out. Yeah, I'd say I think Debo is not gonna play in this game to be honest with you. We'll see. You know, didn't practice at all on Thursday. I think there's a really good chance he doesn't play in this game.

All right. Marvin Harrison, 5,500 Michael Wilson, 4k, probably not getting there. I don't hate either play personally. All right. Let's go to your Kansas city chiefs, Mike against the Denver Broncos, another kind of interesting game because Broncos need to win a Kansas city sitting all their gut was sitting a lot of their guys, not all their guys. I do think the Broncos are going to be popular for obvious reasons. They do have a reasonable and ploy total of 25 again, favored by 10 and a half in this game. Bo Nicks is 6,400. Courtland Sutton is 6,400. Marvin Mims is 4,600. I mean, those three

right there actually really those two bone next to Sutton, I think are going to be really popular avoiding the run game there. Mike, how you playing this game? I mean, I know your chiefs are rolling out a lot of backups. You think they're going to lay down and do you think the Broncos are going to have to keep their foot on the gas a little bit and pepper targets like Sutton and Mips, for example? I think they're definitely going to lay down. I don't think Kansas city wants to win this game at all. I think they prefer to definitely lose this game.

I think that they will intentionally lose the game, uh, if it comes to it at the end. Uh, and the reason is pretty clear and simple. Like the, the Bengals, especially as the defense improves, they're one of the six best teams in the NFL and that you're not letting Joe burrow into the playoffs. If you don't have the opportunity to. So I'd much rather face a rookie quarterback. I think Kansas City understands that and knows that because in the past,

this is a spot where Kansas City would play their guys, at least a couple series to keep everything fresh. They're not doing that here in this particular spot. So as far as guys I like in the game, I think any of the Broncos are fine. They're going to have to score. They're going to go try to score on the chief side. Payton Hendershot, someone that I have some interest in tight end.

I still think that Carson Wentz is a good quarterback. To be honest with you, I think he probably should be a starting quarterback in the NFL. So I like Payton Hendershot at 2500. It's extremely speculative. But at that price point, that's my first interest in this game. Let me ask you this, Mike, real quick before we transition to Meg. Is there a receiver that you think will be on the field? Like for example, a Juju Smith Schuster at $3,700 or a Justin Watson at $3,500 that maybe

we can expect to get four or five targets in this game. Uh, it's going to be extremely, extremely speculative here. Uh, but I forgot I was placing Nico is the guy he's the punt returner, he's been returning pints, got called up from the pack practice squad. He is the guy that I expect to get the most. Uh, and then Justin Ross would be someone that I think is going to be out there as well. Wow. So those are either two.

Noah Gray, look, maybe I still think Noah Gray is an extremely important part of this team the way he is. I personally think it'll be Hendershot if they're throwing to tight ends. But yeah, I fully expect absolute tank job in terms of not letting anyone that's remotely important play in this game. Yeah. I think it might be pronounced Nico Romigio. He's a flat three K. I could be wrong in the pronunciation, but this is a game to make like really kind of tune into.

Cause if you can, if you, if you, if Nico Romigio is starting and he's going to get a lot of targets because he's Nico Romigio and he's and he's a flat three K that opens a lot of things up. It gets off. Maybe some other chalk that people are going to have like for the Rams receivers, for example, Meg, how you playing this one? Well, first of all, Mike, anytime you can sell me on a punt price tight end, I'm in, so I'm in the head. I'm into the hander shot play now. But I have a lot of interest, obviously on the Denver passing game. So I like Nick Sutton. And I think I'm seeing this now.

I'm not seeing any ownership on Mims. We saw how integral he was last week in in the game against the Bengals. Why wouldn't he be this week to try to seal the playoffs? So he's explosive. I really like Mims. If he's coming in at loan ownership, I really like him at his price. He is. And I actually well well the reason he's coming on low ownership is because optimizers are factoring in his receiving

yards total which is only 29 and a half for some reason. So he's just not popping but I think is I honestly think and I know it's a weird game and a 10 point you know spread and all that stuff. If you look at his stat line over the last six games, it's astounding. He is absolutely smashing the 30 yard total, almost every single game his targets are going up. I think he's the trusted number two. I know Devon Bailey is, is, is a guy there as well, but Mims is getting the work. So I, I don't know what else to say. I think Marvin Mims is really sneaky, especially from a betting standpoint.

Yeah. All right. Let's move on. We've got, let's see one, two more games to cover and then we'll get to our cheat sheet. We're going to run through these two really fast because I just don't think there's a lot of DFS promise here. Chargers, Raiders, Chargers four and a half point favorite implied totals, pretty low for both teams. Chargers at 23 Raiders, uh, nearly 19. Uh, Mike, I'll start with you. I'm not playing anybody in this game. Brock Bowers makes sense at 6,600. I totally get it. I'm probably not getting there on the the other side, we're not even sure right now if the charges are going to have to like really

play this game. I think we have to wait for Saturday for that, but I'm out on the chargers as well. Mike, what's what's say you? Yeah, would need more info on outcomes to see what the chargers actually need here. If you want to play Brock Bowers, I think it's fine. If you want to make that one of your spins,

I'm not going to personally, but that would be the first piece here for me. Other than that, I think I'm completely off. Yeah, Meg. I mean, Amir Abdullah, he's been pretty impressive. We know Jacoby Myers and Bowers have been impressive as well. But I just on this slate, I just don't think I'm getting here with any Raiders. What say you? Yeah, similar to the neighbors thing. If he wants to like end

his season with an exclamation point or Brian Thomas Jr. I get it. I mean, he certainly could, you know, putting more receptions to that total. I totally get it. Don't mind like the Abdullah has been kind of coming through as a cheap play. But really, I think it's just paying attention to the results of the Steelers game. If the Steelers lose on Saturday night, then we do have interest in the Chargers because obviously Harbaugh has all the interest in the world to not play his brother in the first round and play the Texans, which seems like a just pass,

you know, collect two, collect to the next round and move on to beat the Texans. So I think there will be, I guess if Steelers lose, I'll have a ton of interest in the Chargers. I know Dobbets has a lot of incentives, but obviously the incentive would be to win and to play the Texans. So all comes down to that for me. If Steelers lose, I'm in on the Chargers stacks. Yeah, that totally makes sense. I mean, again, this is one of those weird situations

where if you're thinking about some of these games, including that one, well, that one specifically, but maybe one other one as well, you have to wait for the Steelers Bankless outcome. That's just the name of the game here. All right. Let's move on to the next game. Miami dolphins, New York jets. We're ending with an ugly one, but don't worry. We have our cheat sheets in top three, each position after this. I don't really have anything to say here. Aaron Rogers is 5,600 Devante seven K Garrett Wilson, six K teams a mess. I mean, Aaron Rodgers, I guess in theory,

could throw for two touchdown passes in 250 yards, but still I don't think gets us there considering all the value on the board. I'm not playing A-chan this week. No Tyreek Hill with what looks like Tyler Huntley playing at quarterback. Meg, are you out on this game? Well, I talked about the narrative at the beginning.

If you want to lean into any narratives, one narrative could be he only he only needs one more Rogers that is touchdown to hit 500, which is a very exclusive club. I think he wants Devante Adams to get that touchdown if you want to look in the anytime touchdown market. So there's all those narratives to play. Is this Rogers' last game?

Is this Rogers and Devante's last game together? If you want to lean into those narratives, I don't mind it. I totally get it. I don't know if I will, but I'm just saying that I, I get it, whether it's his last game or their last game together, I don't mind a Rogers Devonte Adams stack. All right, Mike, what say you? Yeah, I like Rogers. He's gonna be one of my top three. Spoiler alert. I think that they're gonna score. And I do think it could be last game, but it's certainly everything is an audition at this point. Um, Meg mentioned, you know, touchdown 500, I think all of that very, very much in play.

The other underrated aspect with Huntley playing quarterback on the other side, it's very possible they have a short field or two, uh, where they only have to march 30 yards to score touchdown in this game. So I like the Roger side, uh, like Adams first, but still like Wilson as well. Okay. Um, that'll do it for the 13 game slate. It's now time for our cheat sheets. By the way, speaking of like motivation and stuff in auditions, Joshua Dobbs has expressly said that this game for him is an audition. So before, not just for San Francisco, but for all, all the other teams, I think it's really interesting when a player actually acknowledges that. I do think that means something for Josh Dobbs more than most quarterbacks playing on this

slate that in theory don't have much to play for. All right. We are going to get to our cheat sheets and top three position right after this message from our partners. We're back on fantasy football today. DFS time for the cheat sheets. Last one of the regular season, but we'll have cheat sheets for the playoffs as well. Meg, start us with a stack, a familiar couple of names, which I love Chalk by Chalk, Fade, Contrarian, and Value Play. Sure. Going right back to Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, and a must-win game for them. Then, of course, Chalk by, we talked about it earlier, and Mike said he's heavy on him

in his running the simulations, and that's Bijon Robinson. Obviously, they need to win. If for some reason the bucks would fall, they're gonna rely heavily on Bijon Robinson. Chalk fade is Trey McBride, seeing a lot of ownership on a very expensive tight end, despite how talented he is, I'm not gonna go there. Contrarian play is Marvin Mims.

We talked about it a little bit at length for the Broncos game. Don't understand why, we talked about why Sokotran, but you and I both talked about how we like his overs in the prop market. And obviously it just seems to be a more core piece to this Denver offensive late. And so I want to lean into that. Marvin Mims is Mike and Trayn playing value. I think we all talked about this too. Michael Carter is coming in very cheap for the Cardinals. Yeah. I think the Marvin Mims thing is, is just so interesting because we do have to remember we're playing DFS. And so while it's possible, and especially in this game strip

that Mims could have two targets, one catch for 16 yards, we're playing a tournament style in most cases here. Like he could also have eight. Well, last week is kind of an anomaly, I guess, but he could have 80 yards in a touchdown and six catches. So, I mean, it's just one of those things where Marvin Mims makes way too much sense to me. Even though, and I think part of this is everybody thinks that all the volumes going to Courtland Sutton because of the incentives. It's like, that's not like how a football game works. Like they're just not going to, he's not going to stare down Courtland Sutton the entire game. All right. Cheat sheet, Josh Dobbs, Ricky Pearsall, but I do think you can play Josh job Dobbs solo here. So that's my stack. Chalk by is gonna be Mike Evans for obvious reasons.

Chalk fade, I noticed Isaac Garendo getting a lot of ownership, so I'm just gonna go ahead and fade him. I'm gonna play other running backs on this slate. Contrarian, I'm just putting out Tyler Johnson, but really what I wanna say here is probably like a Rams receiver or a Kansas City receiver. Mike talked about the Kansas City receivers.

I think Tyler Johnson or Jordan Whittington or Tutu Atwell are in play. I'm gonna keep my ear to the ground because I think we're gonna hear some stuff about Kansas City receivers and Rams receivers. So let's pay attention to that. My value play. I'm with you, Meg. It's Michael Carter. Right, Mike. Top three in each position. We start at quarterback. Josh Dobbs, Baker Mayfield, Aaron Rogers, Dobbs again. Four K has a lot of rushing upside and rushing touchdown upside.

Baker Mayfield, obvious reasons. And then Aaron Rodgers, again, audition season. And I think that you know where the volume's going. So if you wanna stack it, it's pretty easy in terms of playing those two receivers. Okay, let me ask you real quick before you go to running back. Would Bo Nix be number four there for you?

Not for me, but I don't mind it. If you like that, I'm electing more to just isolate one or two of his receivers, but I don't, I say I'm not gonna play four quarterbacks. I'm gonna play two at most probably out of this anyway. And the reason for it is Dobbs is 4k. So with Dobbs 4k, you know, I again, I can get Bijan, I can get Bucky, I can get Evans in every lineup without any, any trouble. That sounds amazing. All right. Speaking of Bucky, talk to me about your top three running

backs. Yeah, it's going to be Bucky Irving B. John Robinson, Michael Carter gonna play straight shock across the board there. Yeah, obvious reasons again, Bucky and B John must win games, heavy, heavy volume. Michael Carter just 4k also on the other side of that Josh Dobbs situation. I like that a lot. All right, top three wide receivers, Mike Evans, Jackson Smith and Jigba and then I'm listing jets wide receiver. You can play either Devante or Garrett Wilson,

like both of them there. I have a lineup that I really like that puts Garrett Wilson in over Devante, but Mike Evans, Jackson Smith and Jigba, and then the Jets receivers. All right, top three tight ends. You're leading with a guy that's 2,500. Highly speculative of a tight end here.

Peyton Hendershot for the Kansas City Chiefs, Grant Calcutera for the Eagles, and then Brock Bowers. I just think that there is a scenario. Brock Bowers sees the double digit targets, lands in the end zone, and just really, really, really separates at the tight end position, more so than anyone else can in any other position. So I am going to include

Bowers here. Very, very interesting. Ladies and gentlemen, that was a show. We went through 13 games. We got through our cheat sheets, our top three at each position. We tried to introduce some of the nuance for this crazy week, some of the incentives, and you all helped us out. So we really appreciate everybody in the chat. Hopefully you can join us next week as well as we march toward the playoffs. Meg, thank you. Mike, thank you. That was a great show. Really looking forward to this crazy slate. Again though, you don't have to pour your entire, well whatever you poured into last week and the week before, you can play this week a little lighter. But if you have confidence, play it the same. We don't

want to tell you what to do with your money, but we have to acknowledge this is a very quirky week. So on behalf of Meg, shout. On behalf of Mike McClure and Claire on the ones and twos and threes and fours. And of course, all of you will see you next week. This is Fantasy Football Today, DFS.